Putin: foreign nations try to destabilize Caucasus

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian security agencies to act more harshly to fend off foreign attempts to destabilize the restive North Caucasus region ahead of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

Addressing Monday’s meeting of the presidential Security Council, Putin said unspecified “foreign countries and public and international organizations under their control keep seeing the North Caucasus as a foothold for destabilizing Russia as a whole.”

He urged Russian security agencies to “act more harshly to thwart such attempts.”

Putin added that “neutralizing the terrorist and criminal threats is particularly important in connection with the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.”

The North Caucasus region has been engulfed by an Islamist insurgency following two separatist wars in Chechnya.